Friday, June 6, 2014

Philipps heads to NYT

Dave Philipps, heading for The New York Times, interviews a military member.

Gazette reporter Dave Philipps has accepted a national reporting job with The New York Times, he tells the Indy in an interview today.

Philipps, 36, won the Pulitzer Prize in April for national reporting with his series of stories, "Other Than Honorable," about the military's ouster of soldiers for infractions that stemmed from their combat service, leaving them without medical benefits.

A Colorado Springs native who was born at St. Francis Hospital on Pikes Peak Avenue, right across the street from the former Gazette building, Philipps started at the local daily in April 2003 and covered outdoor stories. In 2010, he was a Pulitzer finalist for his series of stories about a group of soldiers who returned from wars overseas and committed murders. He later wrote a book about it.

He left the newspaper in 2011 for a fellowship in environmental issues at the University of Colorado-Boulder. He rejoined the Gazette in October 2012. During his recent stint, he's written stories about a confidential informant program that relies on cadets at the Air Force Academy, Neumann Systems Group's emissions control equipment at Drake Power Plant, and Sheriff Terry Maketa.

Philipps, who is married to an attorney and has two small children, will report for work at the Times in New York City on Aug. 11 where he will be assigned to cover military and veterans affairs issues. He says he doesn't know when his last day at the Springs paper will be.

"I know this sounds sappy, but I'm really sad to leave my home town and the Gazette," he says. "But it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up."